My favorite Christmas album is an obscure CD called Noel. (This page has an embedded mp3 player that plays it.)
I’m biased to these two because they are what my mother played nonstop during the season when I was growing up, but I love:
John Denver’s Rocky Mountain Christmas
Christmas for Cowboys is beautiful.
+1.
I practically grew up on this album.
John Denver and the Muppets.
It is light and fun christmas music.
- 5 now.
It’s on right now! (The TV special)
How can you leave out The Carpenter’s “Christmas Portrait”? One of the best, most cohesive Christmas album experiences out there…TRM
Totally concur. Tree is ALWAYS trimmed to this album. The original–not the CD with the “extras” which consist of Karen’s brother (forget his name) trying to steal the limelight with three crappy (defined as not Karen) songs at the beginning of the album.
My favorite is Count Your Blessings, which was a “live recording of seasonal music” by Jane Siberry (now Issa), Holly Cole, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Victoria Williams and Rebecca Jenkins, with Tim Ray on piano. The album is now out of print, but can be heard at that link.
I have a personal reason for liking it so much, and that’s because I was lucky enough to attend the concert (with a couple of other Dopers), which was recorded at the Glenn Gould Theater in Toronto. It was worth the trip from Chicago to Toronto, just for that show.
Here’s the track listing:
- Count Your Blessings (Ensemble)
- Please Come Home For Christmas (Holly Cole lead)
- White Christmas (Mary Margaret O’Hara lead)
- Un Flambeau Jeanette Issbella (Ensemble)
- What Is This Fragrance (Mary Margaret O’Hara lead)
- Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Victoria Williams lead, but it’s been deleted)
- Carol Of The Bells (Ensemble
- Never, No (Mary Margaret O’Hara lead, her song)
- I’ll Be Home For Christmas (Rebecca Jenkins lead)
- Are You Burning Little Candle (Jane Siberry lead, her song)
- Deck The Halls (Holly Cole lead)
- A Holy Thing (Victoria Williams lead, her song)
- In The Bleak Midwinter (Ensemble)
- Silent Night (Mary Margaret O’Hara lead)
The show was originally broadcast on the radio (as “A Choral Christmas”), with all the fun banter included, something that was unfortunately cut out of the CD. There are a few songs on the CD that weren’t in the radio broadcast, and a few songs that weren’t on the CD that were in the radio broadcast, such as the very fun “Wassail Song.”
What - no love for Twisted Sister’s Twisted Christmas?
Nat King Cole’s Christmas Album. I cannot believe you would not include this one on the poll.
IMLTHO, here are the only Christmas Albums worthy of a desert island stranding:
White Christmas - Bing Crosby
The Christmas Album - Nat King Cole
A Charlie Brown Christmas - Vince Guaraldi
Alvin and the Chipmunks (the Original) Christmas Album
Beach Boys Christmas (maybe it’s a california thing)
Dr. Demento’s Christmas Album
+1 Can’t believe it took so long for someone to mention this.
I actually grew up on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Holly and the Ivy, (despite not being Mormon) and most of my favorite carols are still MTC’s.
Definitely John Denver and the Muppets, plus Trans-Siberian Orchestra…the one with Wizards of Winter.
The Ventures Christmas Album. Brilliant surf-guitar arrangements of old favorites. Walk Don’t Run turns into Sleigh Ride, Wooly Bully turns into Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, Tequila turns into Frosty the Snowman. I waited a long, long time to upgrade my bootleg tape of this one.
I have this on right now I get strange looks whenever people walk past my office. Between this and the Charlie Brown album I think I have a cartoon problem.
Hymns, Carols and Songs About Snow by Tuck Andress. Arranged for solo guitar by one of the great masters. I’ve stuffed many a stocking with this one and I’ve never met someone who didn’t fall in love with it. Trust me. Check it out (and report back).
Broadway Cares: Carols for A Cure. I cannot recommend these CDS highly enough. Recorded by the casts of Broadway shows, they combine traditional with new songs, and are always my holiday treat.